Visitors to the Queens Park Rangers website today will see boys from the Midlands Children’s Hope Centre (MCHC) proudly wearing their team colours.

In a society in which we take for granted the purchase of our team’s latest kit, the excitement caused by the donation of 12 QPR football shirts through the club’s Community Trust is a reminder of how easy it is to make a difference.

ALERT volunteer Siobhan Adeusi approached Andy Evans, CEO of the Community Trust, to request items to send to the children she had met during her stay at Antelope Park. Andy had seen first-hand how hard life can be for young people during a visit to the West African country of Burkina Faso and was keen to help. The club kindly donated many items, including the shirts which are now being proudly worn by the boys.

‘It was my absolute pleasure to be in a position where we could donate the kits to such a worthwhile initiative as the Midlands Children’s Hope Centre,’ said Andy. ‘It is great to see that they provide fun, galvanise communities and help educate simply by offering something we take for granted – a football shirt.’

Wilson, one of the boys who received a shirt, said: ‘I am very much excited to have a t-shirt like that one because naturally I am a good soccer player. So if I am wearing that t-shirt and playing soccer, I see myself as someone who is already a soccer star’.

His friend Simbarashe already knew about QPR, having heard about the team from community volunteers. He said: ‘This was a very important gift for me. When I wear my t-shirt I feel good and I feel like a grown-up boy. I am very good at soccer. Maybe one day I will play for Queens Park Rangers’.